The Games We Play
by millenniumthief
Summary: Kaiba decides to try a new approach to hopefully beat Yugi at SOMETHING. Will he finally prevail over Yugi, or will something else get in his way? Written for Compy's contest, round five, rivalshipping.


Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-gi-oh, I can guarantee I wouldn't be worried about getting accepted to Universities and how to pay for it. So I don't! Also, I own none of the various games or systems mentioned in the story.

A/N: Ugh, I hate this. I seriously hate this, but I'm hoping someone likes it. I wish I had a better idea for this story, but I think panic has sapped it out of me.

Warnings: Slight, implied one-sided rivalshipping.

The Games We Play

Being the prideful young man Seto Kaiba was, he didn't even bat an eyelash as his monster disintegrated for what felt the thousandth time since he had started routinely challenging Yugi to duels after returning from Egypt. Actually, for all he knew he _could_ have lost that many monsters. He had lost count fourteen duels ago.

No, he didn't flinch and he didn't complain. He started thinking of other ways to get even with the shorter duelist, ones that _maybe_ he might stand a chance of winning, although it made him cringe to think like that. He made his way off the platform and over to Yugi, holding out his hand in recognition of his loss.

"You won again, Yugi. Good job," he said, barely a flicker of frustration in his voice.

Smiling, Yugi accepted his opponent's hand. "Same time next week, Kaiba?" he asked innocently.

The taller brunet shot a disdainful glare at the smaller boy, before uttering a short, "Of course," and walked out of the duel arena. Yugi watched him go, lips quirked by the thought of defeating the CEO yet again, and then followed him out of the room.

--

Kaiba let out a sigh just short of a growl as he paced up to his room. He didn't have time to shut the door before Mokuba slipped in and plopped down on his big brother's bed. "Are you alright, Seto?" he asked, peering up at the obviously frustrated young man.

"Yes."

An uncomfortable silence followed the one word answer, but Mokuba continued staring until Kaiba relented for a longer explanation.

"Fine. Yugi won _again_. No matter how much I practice, how much I plan, I never win!" he ranted, breathing a little heavily.

"He is the King of Games," Mokuba mused, mostly to himself.

"That doesn't help, Mokuba," Kaiba said dryly, sarcasm evident. "What can I do to win?"

Mokuba sat quietly, contemplating different approaches to the situation. "I would guess with Yugi being in his senior year, he's probably been busy with school work. That means he might not have kept up with the latest video games. You play with me every once in a while, so maybe you'll have more practice than he would. It would also surprise him that you two wouldn't be playing Duel Monsters."

"Which ones are you thinking?"

Mokuba hopped off the bed and raced off to his room, grabbing a couple of game cases and returning with them. He held them up for his brother's examination.

Brow furrowed in disbelief, Kaiba accepted the two white cases. "You're joking, right?" he muttered, the simplicity of the whole thing making him want to dissolve into hysterics if he was a less composed person.

Mokuba simply smiled mischievously and held up one of two controllers.

--

The night that Yugi returned was an ominous evening. Rain had been falling during the day, with forecasters predicting more heavy rainfall later on. When the young duelist walked through the doors, Kaiba was standing on the other side of the room, arms crossed. Yugi shuddered with the sudden feeling of déjà vu. He was half expecting a bolt of lightning to streak across the sky in the window behind him, but nature decided not to assist in the creepy atmosphere just yet.

"Hello, Yugi," Kaiba said, a dark undertone marring the greeting. It certainly had been a while since he had taken to scare tactics to unnerve his opponents, but he couldn't deny the thrill it was giving him.

"Hi, Kaiba…" Yugi mumbled, curious as to the sudden change of mood. He started to lead the way to the duel arena until Kaiba stopped him.

"We won't be dueling tonight, Yugi. Follow me." With that, he walked in the opposite direction into a much smaller room from the arena. However, to Yugi, it was still quite large. There was a setup the likes of which he had never seen before. The room was fairly empty, but most apparent was a surround sound system, with speakers perched in the corners. Directly in front was a large screen with various panels below. Kaiba pressed a switch on the wall and one of them extended, revealing a small, white game system, two remote-like controllers, and a motion sensor bar.

"We're playing…Wii?" Yugi blinked a couple of times as the screen lit up. He finally noticed the lack of windows, likely to prevent glare on said screen. He almost laughed at the absurdity of it all, and would have if he hadn't noticed how seriously Kaiba was taking it all. He passed Yugi a Wii-mote and turned on the system. Selecting the top left icon, Yugi blinked again. "Wii Sports? Are you _serious_?"

"I thought we might try a change of pace tonight. I want to see how good you are at games other than Duel Monsters," Kaiba explained, picking Tennis.

'_In other words, he wants to try to beat me at something.'_ Yugi thought, accepting his fate. He still wasn't going down without a fight.

After choosing a set of three games, Kaiba took the first serve. He had obviously worked on his timing. As the ball streaked across the screen with smoke trailing behind it, Yugi barely deflected it, watching it fly into the crowd. Yugi was grateful he wasn't playing with someone who insisted on saying the score as he played. Kaiba quietly served the next ball, this time missing the ace, trying to send it back a second time and growling when Yugi scored. Surprisingly, Kaiba won the first game by luring Yugi's players over to one side of the screen and smashing the ball to the other side.

"One to zero, Yugi. I may just win this round," he gloated. Yugi remained silent. He knew from experience that Kaiba could get too overconfident and lose his focus. So, he took advantage his opponent's distraction and smashed the ball to Kaiba's side, watching as it bounced off the wall behind. "That was a cheap shot and you know it, Moto!" he snarled.

Yugi shrugged and tried again, but this time Kaiba stopped it. Using the same tactic the CEO used before, Yugi managed to score a second time, and it all went downhill from there. Even during the third game, the younger duelist returned Kaiba's serves and won the third game, securing the set, match, and his victory. Kaiba swore quite eloquently at his loss _again_.

"Fine, you may have won, but don't think this is over just yet. I have another game to play with you." Kaiba approached the wall again and pushed another button, this time causing a couch to emerge from the floor. "Mokuba," he called out.

"Coming, Seto." The voice sounded from some sort of intercom through the surround sound speakers. The door opened and the raven-haired boy sauntered in, carrying another white case and two round objects. Kaiba slipped the Wii-mote inside one of the objects and it was then that Yugi realized:

"Mario Kart?!" This was just getting strange. Was Kaiba truly that determined to win? Apparently, he decided, since he was now selecting Toad as his character while Kaiba chose Mario. How unoriginal…

Kaiba brought up a single course, an icy one with snow on the ground and a cannon to blast characters up to the top of a mountain. He knew all the secrets of this level, so there was no way he could lose!

The race began, and Kaiba got the speed boost at the beginning to push him far ahead of Yugi's Kart. He smashed through an item box only to receive a fake item box in return. It served little protection against Yugi's red shell, and his Kart tumbled when it hit. Yugi's baby Kart sped by.

Kaiba realized then that if there was such a thing as fate (which there wasn't) it must hate him quite severely.

He caught up when Yugi got stuck in a snow drift, and he used the side of the stage to launch himself over the piles of mush. Speeding on his way, he forgot to avoid one of the cliffs and groaned when he flew off, allowing Yugi enough time to pass him.

The reversal of positions continued until the third lap. Yugi was slightly ahead of Kaiba halfway through the track, but Kaiba had just gained the upper hand. He chuckled when a blue shell emerged from his item box. His heart pounded as he let the shell fly, watching as it soared towards Yugi's small Kart. It was almost there and then Kaiba let out a triumphant "HA!" before…

The entire room went dark.

The sudden absence of light left both gamers disoriented as they sat there, staring at the screen.

"NO! I would have won!" Kaiba yelled, still overtaken by the adrenaline rush from the game.

"You don't know that," Yugi objected. "There was still over a fourth of the track left. I might have had time to pass you." He shifted slightly towards the back of the sofa. "It's really dark in here…" he said quietly.

Kaiba glared in Yugi's general direction. "Don't expect me to comfort you."

"Oh, I didn't. But thanks for the change of pace. It was a lot of fun playing something besides Duel Monsters for once."

Kaiba really didn't want to admit out loud that he also enjoyed the time spent trying to defeat his rival, but in such a situation it was nice to have some conversation. "I suppose I like playing against you as well. You're the only one that has ever beaten me in a fair game."

Yugi mused over that for a moment. "Hmm…I could have sworn you hated all the times I've won against you."

"I could do without losing, but other than that, it's enjoyable to be around the only person on my level in games like that," Kaiba replied, arrogance and confidence shining through. "Why else do you think I keep having you come back?"

"I should have known you just wanted to have some good competition, and here I thought…" Yugi trailed off, finishing in his head, '_We could at least be considered friends…_'

"Thought what?" Kaiba wanted to know.

"Oh nothing. It's not import-"

Mokuba bursting in interrupted any further comment and a beam of light shone brightly through the pitch black.

"Sorry, Seto. The storms got a lot worse in the last half an hour, but I didn't want to disturb you…I guess I should have warned you guys…" he apologized.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Mokuba," Yugi reassured. "I shouldn't have been here so late anyway. So…same time next week, Kaiba?"

Even in the half light, it was easy to see the determined and frustrated scowl visible on Kaiba's features.

"Of course."

He never _would_ give up…


End file.
